Field Hockey: McCarthy, Putsch earn spots on U.S. U19 team

For the past two years, Haverford's Jess McCarthy and the Academy of Notre Dame's Moira Putsch have proven to be two of the county's elite players. Both have a pair of All-Delco nods to prove it, and they are two of the best goal scorers in Delco.

Thursday, they became national club champions as their W.C. Eagles club downed X-Calibur, 3-2, at the National Club Championships.

But the fun doesn't stop there for the two dynamic scorers. They'll have a chance to prove just how good they are against some of the world's best players, as both were selected to the U.S. National U19 team following a grueling four-day final tryout at the University of Massachussetts.

The final selections were made from a group of 34 players who came from a previous group of 96 at a tournament at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex National Training Center. McCarthy and Putsch are among a group of 14 Pennsylvania players from the 25-girl team.

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For McCarthy, the third time was indeed the charm as she didn't make the team in her first two cracks at it. The extremely competitive midfielder made it clear that the snubs weighed on her mind as she tried to make the team for the first time.

"It definitely motivated me a lot," said McCarthy, who had a goal in the Eagles' win. "But I think maybe not making it helped me, too. It helped me work more, it helped me respect the game more, and it's definitely a big honor to make the team."

McCarthy, who committed to Drexel in the offseason, finished her junior year with 18 goals and eight assists for the Central League runnerup Fords. Thanks in no small part to McCarthy's play, Haverford is expected to contend for the league title again.

"I don't know too much about what players are back from other schools," McCarthy said, "but I do think we have a really good chance at winning the Central League."

Putsch, who is considered one of the best junior recruits in the country, has yet to pick a college. She has trimmed her list to Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Princeton, Penn State and Duke. She returned from an ACL tear in time to score 17 goals and dish out seven assists in only 12 full games, and she also tallied the game-winning goal in the Irish's 2-0 win over Episcopal Academy in the PAISSA final.

"It's definitely a big honor, and it's really cool to make the team with Jess," said Putsch, who had the other two goals for the Eagles in their landmark win. "I feel like my skills have really improved a lot, and this is great."

The scary part for Notre Dame's opponents is that Putsch indicated she's not even back at full strength yet from her knee injury. If Putsch can get the speed back that she used to score 24 goals and 37 points as a freshman, she'll be even more of a nightmare for defenses.

"It's not 100 percent yet," Putsch said of her left knee. "But I definitely think it's getting stronger."